Big Red Barn: Two Well-Moisturized Thumbs Way Up

Big Red Barn corporate headquarters

Today we continue the trend of the last couple months, in which I claim I never sell anything on this blog then go on to give my opinion on a product or service. I don't know the eShakti people or the Pioneer Women personally, though, so I wasn't able to vouch for the folks behind these products. The person behind this endorsement is a total delight and was a heck of a candlelighter in the 1983 version of the Wedding of the Century.

People, if you only one read one endorsement here make it this one. This is a product I never thought I would like but instead it's going to be the 2018 Gift of the Year in the House on the Corner. And it all starts in the big red barn behind the window where Husband was checking the weather in 2014. That's where the most important component of our niece's new business is produced: Goat milk.

It turns out this naturally-homogenized liquid is the not-so-secret ingredient in soaps and lotions that moisturize without being greasy, are gentle for dry or aging skin, and are packed with healing vitamins. I've seen claims that they're excellent options for people who have acne or eczema.

And fortunately for me, it turns out that having a goat herd had been on the bucket list of our oldest niece, Shanna. (She says her husband is wary of what else might be in this bucket.) Shanna has been busy since she lit candles at our wedding 35 years ago. She and her husband have raised and homeschooled a family of eight  kids, including a sibling group of four they adopted after fostering. She gives piano lessons and raises exotic chickens, and has assembled a menagerie of horses, cats, dogs, and assorted animals on the farm where they live.

Last week she sent me a Christmas gift of Big Red Barn Goat Milk Soap. Several years I'd had to quit using body soap. My usually-good skin had turned flaky and itchy and on the advice of my dermatologist I gave away all of the yummy-smelling shower gels I'd accumulated. But a shower of plain water never feels cleansing, so yesterday I gingerly rubbed some of BRB's apple-scented bar into a scrubbie and really washed. I was surprised that the round disk not only produced beautiful suds, but that this bar was clearly more moisturizing than the gold Dial the rest of the family uses.

I was late for church and didn't have time to use the lotion until I sneaked it out of my purse during the sermon. I am a lotion snob by nature, and have no patience for greasy splotches on computer keys or the paper I use to write notes. But Thanksgiving pretty much destroyed my hands, what with the dozens of hand-washings required during cooking, so they were super dry with cuticles that would make a manicurist cry into the soaking bath. I didn't use much of the BRB lotion (maybe half a teaspoon) but it was amazing. No grease, and even my terrible nails suddenly looked respectable.

To be perfectly honest, though, I wouldn't have even tried this stuff if it wasn't Shanna behind it. By nature I am a better-living-through-chemistry person and all-natural products aren't necessary my jam; I don't seek them out and won't pay extra to buy them. But these soaps and lotions? Are my jam.

Maybe they're my jam because except for the soap-making lye, you probably can eat or at least pronounce everything that's in them--ingredients listed on the label of my red apple soap are olive oil, goat milk, palm oil, coconut oil, red apple scent and colorants. The almond biscotti lotion is also basically food (avocado oil, almond oil, shea butter, etc.) plus emulsifying wax. Heck, I'd eat any of that.

Or maybe they're my jam because I purely love the videos Shanna posts on her Facebook page. I spent a good half hour of my life watching her cut soap, and seriously, after watching her milk her nannies last night I'm pretty sure I want a goat for Christmas. (Moms, your kids would love these videos, but be warned that they also might decide they want kids of their own.)

Husband isn't such a fan of the goats-as-gift idea, though, so I'm settling for soaps and lotions for everyone I know for Christmas. And hey, you can do the same thing!

Teacher gifts? Some give-back pampering for your hairdresser or manicurist? Heck, something nice for the guy who delivers all those Amazon boxes? Visit Shanna's Etsy shop. She has the most delicious scents I can imagine, and at $21 a gift assortment already packed in a pretty container is just the right price point. Non-fattening, too, so a good alternative to homemade goodies. Don't tell them, but I'm getting 2-ounce lotions ($3 each) for everyone in my Wednesday night study group--I'll put an assortment in a pretty basket and let each person choose the scent she prefers.

If you're into essential oils, soaps and  lotions that incorporate these oils are available at slightly higher prices.

Right now Shanna is running a December special on soaps--buy four, get one free--and there is a rumor that if you mention you're a friend of MomQueenBee, or read this blog, or have ever heard of Empty Nest Feathers, you might get a discount. Be sure to mention it when you order!

Turn-around is only a day or two, but they're mailed from the farm in Iowa so to make sure they're delivered by Christmas, order by Dec. 18.

So. To summarize this too-long post: I, to my utter surprise, love goat milk soap. Much less surprisingly, I love my niece, and hope you will give her products a try.

Your skin, and your friends' skin, will thank you.